Chapter 256
Mike Brown is enjoying a good time in his coaching career.
As the saying goes, if you sow melons, you will reap melons. After the huge pressure at the beginning of the season and the adjustments in the middle of the season, at the end of the season, the Lakers finally reached a very good state.
This is still the situation that Gasol has not come back and the personnel are not neat.
When Gasol comes back, someone will take the bench, there is a tactical point, so the Lakers still haven't taken off yet?
Now Brown feels that he can enter the "custodial" state, anyway, he has been in charge of the offense.
After a season of defensive training, there are basically no major problems.
Although it can't reach the level of a super defensive team, the Lakers are an offensive team. As long as the defense is not too big, it is acceptable.
After playing the Bulls, the Lakers went away to play the Magic and Eagles.
In the game against the Magic, Howard was booed by a large crowd at the Amway Center.
This is expected. Howard's farce in the Magic in the past two years has made him completely unpopular in Orlando.
Now in the Lakers, although the record is the best in the league, Howard's low position in the team is not comparable to that of the Magic.
The audience at the scene greeted Howard with signs saying "How about being a younger brother in Los Angeles".
Of course Howard could only laugh it off.
Without status, unable to perform like a superstar, being a younger brother can only be willing.
But it doesn't matter to be Kobe's younger brother. Some slogans directly read "Howard is Bruce's younger brother."
This is unbearable.
Although Bruce Lee is indeed a magical existence in the Lakers team, he is still a rookie on the bright side.
Could it be that the name of the rookie and old fairy has spread throughout the league and reached the ears of other fans?
This made Howard very embarrassed. During the warm-up before the game, there was no smile on his face.
Li Liang felt uncomfortable when he saw it.
Theoretically speaking, I can indeed be the boss, but in away games, I still have to give face to the veterans.
How can the relationship with his teammates be messed up because of the provocation of the away fans?
So, Li Liang walked up to Howard and said, "Come on, play tonight, I will pass you more balls and smash them."
Howard glanced at Li Liang, and finally forced a smile on his face.
Howard didn't have a very good season this season. Although Li Liang was arrogant and disrespectful, he had nothing to say about the loyalty of his teammates.
So he curses at others, and everyone has no objection to him.
Swearing, if you have something, you can change it if you don't, and if you don't, you can encourage it. Look at how well Mike Brown is doing, he is almost the best coach.
After the game started, Li Liang and Nash greeted each other, and if they wanted to start the game, they would play for Howard.
In fact, there is no need for Li Liang to say that the entire Lakers team knows that Howard should have a good time in this game.
It's still the same reason, in away games, tens of thousands of people have no one to support you, only teammates can support you.
If the teammates don't support each other, the ball can't be played.
So as soon as the game started, Nash, Li Liang, and Kobe joined forces to feed Howard non-stop.
Kobe broke through to score the ball, Nash hit the ground and passed the ball after the pick-and-roll, and Li Liang responded at the top of the arc.
Anyway, the Lakers made up their minds tonight, let Howard play a good performance, and let all the Magic fans at home shut up.
Howard is also competitive enough. After getting the ball inside, he dunked the first two balls hard.
After the fight, the two sides started to get a little grudge.
Howard had to get the ball inside, and the Magic fouled and sent Howard to the free throw line.
Clearly, I would rather let Howard make free throws than let him make a good shot, let alone a dunk.
Howard's free throw percentage continues to hover around 50 percent this season.
But tonight, amidst the boos at the Amway Center, Howard's free throw percentage was quite good, and he played at a super level.
He took 40 free throws! Hit 25 of them.
A total of more than 20 fouls are enough to show how Howard was chased and intercepted by the Magic.
But even so, Howard still scored an astonishing 41 points, the first time this season that he scored more than 40 points in a single game.
This is really not easy for Howard, whose personal offensive ability has degraded.
Howard went from being unsmiling at the beginning to laughing out loud after the fight.
Another result opened by Howard is that Li Liang is very comfortable shooting three-pointers from the outside.
No wonder in the past NBA coaches like to use super centers to play insid-out, this game has become too simple.
If it doesn’t work, just pass it in, and shoot when there is an open space on the outside. It is simple and practical. Whether the effect is good or not depends on the player’s own state.
It's a pity that Howard is just a flash in the pan.
The Lakers defeated the Orado Magic in the away game at 106:95 without much suspense, and continued to move towards victory.
After the game, Howard looked very happy.
This can be regarded as the happiest game he has played this season.
Not only won in front of his old club, but also played the best performance of the season, making all the fans shut up.
Is there anything more joyful than this?
When the reporter asked what he thought of being the younger brother instead of the boss in the Lakers, Howard said with a smile: "As long as I can win the championship, it's fine for me to carry my bag."
As a result of Howard's words, when he left the Amway Center and got on the bus, everyone hung their bags on Howard.
Howard is like a mobile luggage rack, regretful in his heart.
But it can be seen from this incident that the fit between the Lakers players has become better and better.
Kobe has disagreed with Howard in character since the beginning of the season, and it is still the same now.
After getting along for half a year, they finally found a way to cooperate.
It means that they cooperate seamlessly on the field, and each plays their own way off the field.
Anyway, in the relationship between colleagues, just do the work well together.
A day later, the Lakers left Orlando and arrived in Atlanta.
Phillips Center, on March 13, the Hawks will play.
The two sides just had a contest not long ago, and the Lakers narrowly won at home.
But for any team with strong forwards and point guards, the Lakers will struggle to play.
Before the game at the Phillips Center, there was an episode.
When Bruce Lee was warming up, he picked up the microphone and said to the audience: "Dear Atlanta fans, I don't know if you still know me, Bruce Lee. Almost a year ago, I came to Atlanta. I made a three-pointer in the halftime three-point event here. Then I said, I will stand in the NBA in the future. One year has passed, and I am here today to tell you that I did it, thank you. "
As soon as Li Liang finished speaking, the scene from a year ago was replayed on the big screen in the Phillips Center.
At that time, Li Liang, Wei Dazhi and others were on a graduation trip together and came to Atlanta to watch the game between the Eagles and the Celtics.
During the break in the third and fourth quarters, Li Liang was drawn to appear on the field during the halftime shooting prize, and he hit the three-pointer at halftime and won tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses.
Then in his acceptance speech, he said that he would stand on the NBA court in the future.
At that time, the Eagles fans thought that this Chinese kid would lose his mind after he entered the midfield and shot a basket.
Then he was quickly forgotten.
Unexpectedly, almost a year later, he actually stood on the NBA court and became a great All-Star player.
Thunderous applause was given to this Chinese student who had created a miracle.
From then on, Li Liang got another nickname: Li Liang, who speaks cheaply.